Instagram feeds are about to get a lot more ads

Instagram is changing its business model to allow companies of all sizes to advertise on its service, meaning a lot more ads for users to digest.

Not just that, by working together with Facebook, Instagram will soon enable advertisers to target people “not just because of their age, location and gender, but because of the people, places and things they love”.

Nielsen already ranks Instagram’s advertising almost three times more effective than normal online advertising, so this honing will only improve on that. Companies will be able to buy ad space directly or via Facebook.

However, the make-up of the adverts has been changing on Instagram, incorporating “carousel ads” which make them “more impactful” and allow brands to “tell a deeper story”. God I love advertising speak.

Instagram is targeting three areas: Expanding ad offerings to include action-oriented formats, enabling more targeting capabilities, and making it easier for businesses large and small to buy ads on Instagram.

“These updates completely change the character and nature of Instagram advertising,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, in The Guardian. “New ways to target and an API are both things that advertisers have been asking for for a long time.”

Instagram’s changes will make ads “more impactful” and no doubt greater in number

Since Facebook acquired Instagram, its total online advertising figures have been skyrocketing, just when many felt its relevance was in decline.

So no doubt fine-tuning services like this will only accentuate this trend.